How Marxism understands "democracy" in contemporary criticism | Rousseau | Marxism

In 1850, Marx and Engels published a book review on Thomas Carlyle's Contemporary Review in the fourth issue of The New Rhine: Political and Economic Review, proposing: "What is democracy? It must have a certain significance, otherwise it cannot exist. Therefore, the whole problem lies in determining the true meaning of democracy." So, how does Marxism understand and view "democracy"?

In the view of Marxism, democracy is a historical category. In China, the term "democracy" was first seen in the Book of Documents, Duo Fang. The text goes: "Heaven seeks democracy only at the right time, which is a great downfall of Xianxiu's destiny in Cheng Tang." It means the ruler of the people. The Song of the Five Sons in the Book of Documents also proposed that "the people are the foundation of the country, and the foundation is solid and peaceful," laying the foundation for the traditional Chinese thought of "people first". This ideological tradition is particularly reflected in Mencius' expression of "the people are precious, followed by the state, and the ruler is light". In the West, the term "democracy" first appeared in the ancient Greek book "History" by Herodotus, consisting of the Greek words "demos" and "kratia", meaning "the power of the people" and "the rule of the people". Thucydides pointed out that democracy means "the power is in the hands of all citizens, not a few.". The Enlightenment thinkers of the modern bourgeoisie expanded the meaning of democracy in ancient Greece and began to imbue the concept of democracy with modern connotations. The most representative of them is Rousseau's theory of "sovereignty in the people". Rousseau believed that national sovereignty belongs to all the people, and people's sovereignty is "non transferable", "non representative", and "indivisible". The government is not the master of the people, but only the servant of the people. Although bourgeois democracy essentially represents the democracy enjoyed by a minority or a portion of people, with obvious historical limitations, its theory and practice have also made contributions to promoting the progress of human civilization and become an important and direct theoretical source of Marxist democracy.

The Marxist view of democracy holds that democracy is first manifested in the form of a state and its basic system, and its essence is people's autonomy. The Marxist view of democracy is the abandonment of the bourgeois view of democracy. Marx pointed out as early as 1843 in his "Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law" that democracy, as a form of state and basic system, is essentially characterized by the people being the subject of the state. "In democracy, the state system itself is only manifested as a regulation, that is, the people's self regulation," and the state system is "only a fixed link of the people.". Marx also gave a more specific expression and exposition on this: "The state is an abstract thing. Only the people are concrete things." "It is not the state system that creates the people, but the people create the state system." "Democracy is the unsolved mystery of all forms of state system. Here, the state system is not only free, not only in essence, but also in terms of its existence and reality, constantly being led back to its own foundation, real people, real people, and set as the work of the people themselves. The state system here shows its true nature, that is, the product of human freedom." Democracy, as a state system with sovereignty over the people, is "the foundation of the state system." The essence of all state systems is to make the people, the actual embodiment of the state system, the highest principle of the state system. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels emphasized that "the first step of the workers' revolution is to elevate the proletariat to the ruling class and strive for democracy." In the Critique of the Gotha Program written in 1875, Marx reiterated, "The word 'democratic' in German means' the people in power '."

Democracy is the essential provision, fundamental political concept, and value principle of socialism. Based on the above understanding of democracy, the Marxist view of democracy understands democracy as the essential characteristic of communism, including the primary stage of socialism, and believes that the complete realization of democracy is communism. Engels clearly stated in his article "The Celebration of the Peoples in London" written at the end of 1845 that "democracy is communism today" and "democracy has become the principle of the proletariat and the principle of the masses".

The democracy envisioned by Marx and Engels as an essential characteristic of an ideal society first emerged in the Paris Commune. In 1871, the French proletariat attempted to turn the manifesto of the Communist Manifesto into a great socialist practice. Lenin was the first to apply Marx's democratic ideas to practical socialist practice, emphasizing that socialist social democracy is "the rule of the majority", "recognizing that everyone has equal rights to decide on the state system and manage the state", and "without democracy, there can be no socialism". Mao Zedong, in leading the Chinese revolution and construction, combined with China's specific realities, innovated and developed Marxist democratic theory. Especially, he made scientific provisions and clarifications on the national system of socialist democracy in China, proposing that "our democracy is not bourgeois democracy, but people's democracy, which is the people's democratic dictatorship led by the proletariat and based on the alliance of workers and peasants." This laid the initial and most important foundation for the creation of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics. Mao Zedong also fully affirmed the fundamental role of democracy in breaking out of the historical cycle rate. He said, "We have found a new path, and we can break out of this cycle rate. This new path is democracy. Only when the people supervise the government can the government not relax. Only when everyone stands up and takes responsibility can the government not let down."

Since the reform and opening up, the CPC has united and led the people to make significant progress in developing socialist democracy. It has successfully opened up and adhered to the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, it has put forward a series of new democratic political views, greatly enriched and developed Marxist democratic theory and practice, and gradually formed socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics. The essence of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics is that the people are the masters of their own country. The Constitution of our country clearly stipulates that "all power of the People's Republic of China belongs to the people." Chinese socialist democracy emphasizes democratic elections, democratic consultation, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision, safeguards and respects human rights, and emphasizes the organic unity of adhering to the leadership of the Party, the people being the masters of the country, and the rule of law.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the theory and practice of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics have made significant progress in winning the bid to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and embarking on a new journey of building a socialist modernized country in all respects. In November 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China officially proposed the socialist core values, including the value of democracy. Especially, on the basis of continuously deepening the understanding of the development laws of democratic politics, the Party has also put forward the major concept of "full process people's democracy". The core and essence of "full process people's democracy" is that democracy not only requires complete institutional procedures, but also requires complete participation in practice. The whole process people's democracy is the latest achievement of the theory and practice of socialist democratic political construction with Chinese characteristics in the new era. It adheres to the people-centered approach, reflects the organic unity of process democracy and outcome democracy, procedural democracy and substantive democracy, direct democracy and indirect democracy, people's democracy and national will. It not only further points out the direction of socialist democratic political construction with Chinese characteristics, but also enriches Marxist democratic views under new historical conditions.